1955 Ariel H.T.

Found in a great line-up of 1950s off road Ar iel machines, th is rigid-framed trials HT just spoke to me for some reason. I soon found out it is one of probably 18-21 'rigids' that were assembled at the Selly Oak works. Why so few? Well, this machine comes from a transitiona l period in Arie l's history in regards to solo trials.

Having won three specia l gold medals, a manufacture rs' award, and a sidecar gold at the 1954 Internat ional Six Day Trial, plus having the many victor ies of Frank Wilkins during the 1952 and 1953 sidecar t rials seasons, Ariel were not without success. However, they had not managed to secure any wins in 'big' solo tr ials since 1951 when Bob Ray won the 1951 Colmore , Beggars' Roost and Cotswolds tria ls on the works prototype. This works machine was using the Compet ition Red Hunter or VCH engine, a six-stud magnesium crankcase unit. Despite Ray's success, the VCH engine's power character ist ics were really better suited to road applications . Ariel were basing all their tria ls machines on the scrambles model, with a wheel base and ground clearance that weren't entirely suitable for the nadgery rigours of tria ls work and, as a result Ar iel, were strugg ling to achieve the success they sought.

During the 1950s, a hot topic was rear suspension, especially in off-road sports. Royal Enfield had been using it since 1947 and the 1954 West of England tr ial was won by Bob Mann on an experimental AJS with rear suspension. It wasn't long before other marques were jumping on the springer trend - however, Arie l stuck with rigid far longer than other marques, when it came to thei r tria ls models. They started working on a lightweight sprung rear frame in 1953 and further developmen t carried on into the winter of 1954. In the same year, Ariel released the HT ( Hunter Trials) a dedicated solo t rials machine, in order to gain back thei r previous reputat ion in the sport. With developmen t and the release of the HT in the same year, the 1954/55 HT model on display at the 1954 motorcycle show was st ill using a rigid back end. With the first public appearance of the springer HT in 1955, no further explanation of why the product ion numbers of the HT rigid were so low is not needed.

This example rare machine is pretty much stock ; the only major change is the up and over exhaust - for some reason Arie l sold them with a low-slung exhaust. This is possibly a competit ive upgrade, as it is very similar to the exhausts used on competit ive machines like Sammy Miller's GOV 132, which won the 1962 Scottish Six Days Trial, three years after Ariel had abandoned all four-stroke product ion.

The lucky owner received this rare piece as a 60th birthday present from his wife. Well, what else would an Ariel competit ion enthus iast want?